Mbabazi Defends CMI

By Richard Mutumba DEFENCE minister Amana Mbabazi yesterday defended the existence of Safe Houses under the CMI, but denied that they were torture chambers or illegal detention centres. “There is nothing wrong with having or using Safe Houses because this is a historical and continuous practice by not only security organisations but even other people,” Mbabazi told the parliamentary committee on defence and internal affairs yesterday. He was appearing before the committee to defend his ministry’s budget for this financial year. The ministry is seeking more than sh215b for both development and recurrent expenditure. Responding to fears by MPs that CMI was using Safe Houses to violate human rights, Mbabazi said it was not true that Safe Houses were being abused. He explained that in the conduct of security matters, use of the houses was a necessity especially in situations where some security work must be kept out of the public eye. Mbabazi said some of these houses were necessary in order to enable security organisations to work without interference. The Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence boss, Lt. Col. Noble Mayombo, also told the committee that Safe Houses existed for legitimate security reasons. He said since March no one had implicated CMI in any abuse. Mayombo said some people impersonated CMI officers and arrested people with the aim of blackmailing them. “I call upon Parliament to protect CMI from wild allegations” he said. Ends